TRUST in the Scottish Government fell by 10 points between 2022 and 2023, according to a new survey.
Figures from the Scottish Household Survey 2023, which was published by the SNP Government on Monday, showed that 45% of people said they trust the Government in Edinburgh.
This represented a fall of 10 percentage points on 2022, when 55% of Scots said they trusted the SNP Government.
The survey also asked Scots if they distrust the Government. In 2022, 38% of people said they did. This rose to 45% in 2023.
Trust in local government has also followed a similar pattern, falling while distrust has been rising. In 2022, 59% of Scots reported trusting local government, and 32% said they distrusted it. These figures were 53% and 35% respectively for 2023.
The institutions that adults in Scotland were most likely to express trust in were the health system (78%) and the police (73%). Compared to 2022 findings, this represents a very slight decline in trust in the health system (79% in 2022) and a slightly larger decline in trust in the police (78% in 2022).
The study also found ethnic minority Scots were far more likely to trust the Government compared to other groups.
Some 65% of people who said they were part of a “minority ethnic group”, along with 61% who identified as “white: other”, said they trusted the Government.
The figure is much higher compared to Scots who said they were “white – Scottish” (44%) and “white – other British” (38%).
The survey found young Scots and those living in urban areas were far more likely to back the Government in Edinburgh than their older and rural counterparts.
While only 36% of adults over the age of 60 expressed trust in the Scottish Government, that number rose to 56% for those aged 16 to 34.
Almost half (49%) of adults in urban areas said they trusted the Government but only 38% of people from rural areas agreed.
Nicola Sturgeon was first minister for the entirety of 2022, before stepping down in February 2023. The SNP then installed Humza Yousaf in her place, only for him to resign in early 2024.
John Swinney currently leads the Scottish Government. After taking power, he said he aimed to "work hard to rebuild the trust" of the Scottish public.
Scottish Labour deputy leader Jackie Baillie said the fall in trust was “no surprise” – claiming that “with trust declining across the board it’s clear the SNP’s failure goes well beyond political psychodrama”.
The Scottish Housing Survey polled 9640 Scots in 2022 and 9750 in 2023.
